@TarjeiJS: “FIDE’s Carlsen- Karjakin schedule with a rest day in the weekend if one of the worst moves made from a commercial point of view.”

@acepoint:“With a free day at each of the last three weekends the organizers of Carlsen – Karjakin are simply telling: we don’t need spectators”.

@elmaletero:” My kid’s chess teacher flew out to NY from Utah last weekend, but could only catch one game.”

Let’s help the organizers then, shall we? @pookita: “Chess world. FIDE/Agon can’t schedule the WC so every wknd day has a game. Can we help?”

According to the organisers, we cannot: @worldchess: “HERE IS NO WAY TO AVOID WEEKENDS on REST DAYS. Caps so you would know next time you plan your week.”

You can be the nicest person, writing a perfectly harmless statement, but hit that Caps Lock button, and suddenly you sound like a raging psycho.

@oyvindbrunvoll:“Love their use of CAPS. No argument can beat CAPS!”

I don’t want to post the long list of embarrasing @worldchess tweets on this subject here. If you are interested, you find them on Twitter. Here are a few reactions from professionals and real chess fans:

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer: @gmjlh: “Agon is imploding, judging by this and the last ten tweets from @theworldchess”.

@chessnotes:“Sad. A tiny bit of constructive criticism & personal observation on they’re on full tilt. Hope for better in 2018.”

@heliokostya:“Really strange how @theworldchess responds to constructive criticism. It’s Sunday, what a great day for G12…”

Enough about this subject, or how @worldchess would put it: ENOUGH!!!!

Before we go to the tweets of game 12, two sad tweets:

@MarkTwic:” GM Urii Eliseev 1996-2016. Sad news of the death of Eliseev at 20 after a fall.”

Nuff said about game 12. In the next edition I will collect some more post-game reactions and suggestions how to reform the world championship. The last tweet goes out to @giddinssteve:“Time to put the world chess championship out of its misery. There is no future in these events “.

After the flood of tweets about game 8 on Wednesday, the chess twittersphere calmed down a bit. What will we remember most from game 8? The fact that Magnus did not show up at the press conference? Maybe. What we will remember is The Chess Quote Of The Year.

@rewbeniofrota: “Karjakin has, at least, granted a world champion’s quotation “It is much better to play well than to play white”.

In game 8, Sergey has to play with the white pieces, and he has to play well! Twitter is excited and the predictions are aways fun to read:

@Britt_dj: “I think it’s back to e4 with an anti Marshall system. Would be overjoyed if Team Karjakin proved me wrong.”

Indian writer Jaideep Unudurti is not impressed with the work of Team Karjakin: @unudurti: “Did Sergey blow all his cash on fast cars & black caviar and didn’t actually hire any seconds?”

There is hope for Magnus, Erle Marki Hansen has the stats for you:

@sjakkerle: “Stats for Carlsen-fans: Subsequent a loss, C has the last 2yrs struck back with a win 7/10 times – 5 of those with black!”

@sosocullen: “Magnus is World Chess Champ for a reason. Just because he’s 1 game down doesn’t mean it’s over. Next 4 games will be great.”

Teymur Rajabov @rajachess thinks that it will be difficult for Magnus to come back: “Will be very hard for Carlsen, he has no opening advantage, no time advantage and no advantage in calculation, at the moment, nervous as well”.

Official World Chess reporter @kajasnare agrees: “So far Sergey Karjakin is the winner on every level. Preparations, points, mentality, public apparance. 3/4 is suprising”

Prophet of the day was Dutch IM @RobertRis: “Expecting a solid draw…No reason for Magnus to push hard yet. Predicting another Ruy Lopez.”

@CazHansen: “I’m somewhat surprised by the choice of line by the Carlsen Team. It can rapidly get dull and boring with a likely draw.”

@anishgiri: “I guess Carlsen’s plan is to go home today as early as possible and go all-in again tomorrow.”

@cyberella:“I can’t believe we’re at move 20 after only 30 minutes in! It might all be over in an hour. Then again, it’s all theory.” Grandmaster Simon Williams @ginger_gm: “This looks more like a memory test then a game. Modern chess, don’t we just love it”.

@joshfriedel:The Archangelsk leads to fascinating positions, but computers beat them to a pulp. Hope there is some tension still left.

@nigelshortchess: It is one of the great ironies of chess that the sharpest variations are often the most boring”.

@cyberella: “Magnus has been thinking for what now, half an hour? That move better be stellar!”

Not a stellar move, just the solid 23…Rfd8. What do you think @fabionacaruana: “This variation won’t offer Carlsen many (or any) winning chances, but he should be able to hold it without many problems”.

elgransenor1: “Depressing how many engine moves they are playing. Chess is getting slowly strangled and turned into a soulless activity”.

The “hidden matchpoint” (Svidler on Chess24)

@rajachess: “There is a good chance Carlsen will be 0-2 after today”

@kimiyasajjadi: “Guess all the chess players in the world Are holding their breaths? will Karjakin find Qb3!!”

Maybe he is pondering over another move? Let’s ask @erwinlami: “39.Bxf7+!? Kxf7 40.Qc4 Kg7 41.d5! is also not exactly a picknick. Huge moment in the match!”

@skepticalsports: “If Karjakin wins this game, he knows this match is essentially over.” Does he not know this is 2016??”

@GMAlexColovic: “A bold prediction – Carlsen saves this, which lifts his spirits, starts to play excellently and wins the match!”

@frank_snyckers:“If Carlsen pulls this out of the fire, by no means inconceivable, then Qb3 will haunt Karjakin for the rest of his life”

And Sergey played 39.Bxf7…..

@reachvsara: “Finally a sac in dis world chesschampionship! In footsteps of Kasparov & Vishy. Lets continue to have faith in humanity”.

@jumarear:” I think everyone saw a winning position after Bxf7 but no one actually saw the winning combination”.

@jonathan_rowson: “I feel sorry and sad to say this, but after all that build up and excitement we may now have a complete anti-climax.”

@cyberella , are you still awake? “I keep on staying up too late to watch games that lead nowhere. Wrap it up already, guys! Some of us have to work tomorrow”.

“Following Carlsen – Karjakin is becoming a serious obstacle to being able to get out of bed in the morning.”, according to @wordssavant.

And finally, the inevitable happened: TarjeiJS: “OFFICIAL, Karjakin-Carlsen drawn. Magnus keeps his chances alive exactly 2 years after he retained his WC title in Sochi”.

And of course, many armchair psychologists had to tweet something as well: @mmehdikhani70: “Another psychological victory for Sergey. He pressed Magnus hard and made him sweat for his draw”. @psedik: “I don’t think this is a psychological win for Sergey. Magnus defended almost lost position.”

@redfoks10: “Instead of saying Carlsen is not on his best, maybe it’s time to say that Karjakin is better than we all thought”.

What to expect for game 10? eli_1985_mor: “Tomorrow we will see either the best game or the worst game of the match in terms of quality”.

One last tweet:

@ramnarasimhan: “Only 3 games to go. Magnus down by 1, plays with White pieces in Game 10. The whole chess world is expecting a raging bull.”

Half time at the world championship in New York. Let’s start all over again in a 6-game-match for the title.

@samualmaxton: “Excited to travel to NYC tomorrow for the match. I was worried that halfway through it would already be decided. Wrong!”

I hope Sam has a ticket: @stefanloeffler:“Tickets for Carlsen Karjakin sold out until game ten and eventually until the world championship is decided.”

Rest day

There was a rest day on Saturday in New York, but there was plenty of chess to follow all around the world: the The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Khanty-Mansiysk, the World Senior Championship in Marianske Lazne, a spa town in the west of the Czech Republic near the German border or the German Bundesliga with many strong 2700+ players. What about the Indian Championship in Lucknow?

@nigelshortchess:”Utter chaos in the Indian Championship, with 5 of the 14 participants withdrawing due to the lack of a venue”.

Our man in India, @reachsvara, who has ears and eyes everywhere, is not surprised: “Searching for Toilet in 1991, Searching for Food in 1998, Searching for Tiger (Yes, there was a REAL tiger around!) in 2006… :-)”

Let’s move a couple of time zones to New York. Press officer Anastasiya Karlovich took the opportunity to go to the movies: @nastialkarlovich: “Magnus” in NYC cinema – could not miss it))! Special thanks to filmmaker @Benjamin_Ree”.

Other officials and players played a couple of chess games on the rest day: @chess24com“: Hard not to feel a bit sad for all the chess hustlers in New York parks now getting hustled by visiting professionals :)”

Now let’s go to the tweets of game number seven.

@rationalcolonel: “It has been an engrossing match so far with some tremendous games, but what the match needs now is a decisive result in Game 7.”

Do we really need a decisive result? A draw can be exciting as well, what do you think, @tiltchess:“I love watching quality chess and someone winning doesn’t necessarily make it more exciting for me. #keepthedrawscoming”.

No 1.e4 today, no Ruy Lopez, but something completely different! Stuart Conquest aka @stuthefox: “It’s difficult to explain to a non-chessplayer that sometimes the very first move can be exciting!”

@robertris: Who would have guessed it would be a Chebanenko Slav today? 🙂 @unudurti: “PH Nielsen did an insane amount of work for Anand with the Slav, so this makes sense…sort of.”

Top GM Teymur Rajabov is not impressed with the opening of the game@rajachess: “Could be just dried out at home, with no blah-blah-blah needed.”

What do you think, @TarjeiJS:“I doubt Carlsen was anywhere close to getting a heart attack by Karjakin’s opening preparation today either”. @Silvio Danailov : “It’s amazing how poor is the opening preparation of Sergey Karyakin with white. What the hell is doing his team of seconds”.

@GiddisnSteve:It’s really great to see Ulfie playing Salo Flohr in a World Championship match. Oh, wait a moment…

Exciment on Twitter: Magnus drops a pawn!

@nigelshortchess: I just knew Magnus was going to play 19…Bf6! He is heading for a crappy but (probably) drawn ending a pawn down

@nf3nc6: “Carlsen is getting ready for a Magnus grind now. Just that he will be on the receiving end today..”

@GMlars: “Strange play from both players. From slightly better to slightly worse for Carlsen. Should still be drawish, though”.

@tylervsnyc: Let’s see if Carlsen can pull a Karjakin…

Yes he can! Another draw was agreed: @robertris: “Possibly the worst game so far!”

@sjakkerle: Carlsen hasnt had a row of draws this long since 09. Karjakin: July. No question for whom this is most frustrating.”

@danielrensch received a message from Hikaru Nakamura: “Who knows, maybe they’ll draw all 12 games and kill classical chess once and for all.” -@GMHikaru texting me. Had to share.”

@joshfriedel:“Carlsen seems to lack his usual precision in this match, which makes me realize just how special a quality it was.”

Perhaps the next world championship will be more exciting. What’s your take, @olympiuurcan: “On the positive side, Karjakin is offering us a pretty good preview of a potential Carlsen v Giri world title match”.

One last tweet for today: what do you think of a future match , anishgiri?” I should stop tweeting”.

I found this video on You Tube about the match in 1995, 21 years ago. It was broadcast on Eurosport! Please listen to the (German) comments by GM Eric Lobron. Great to see the games and the footage again, fantastic to see the high-tech 3D board.

The armchair grandmasters are not amused about the draws: @andeesprout:“Chess has become joke over the past week. 5 remis in 5 straight matches”. @itsjulian23: “Man, Carlsen Karjakin is getting more draws than your average Miracle player on Day1 of a GP.”

@kiniagi: “I hate draws, i won’t watch tomorrow”.

That’s a pity, because some strange things happened in New York on Thursday. Anything special in game 5, Venkat Saravanan? @reachsvsara:“I saw Tigran Petrosian all in flesh yesterday, on the board of Carlsen Karjakin when the Black King ran from g8 to c8”.

Game 6

Let’s go to game 6. is it going to be a long game again? @GMjtis: “Espen says the Norwegian PM has texted and hopes for a shorter game, the government is frazzled after so many long nights.”

@davidhowellGM: “Looking forward to the World Championship match tonight. I predict a safe solid draw after a couple of strange games.”

We saw another Ruy Lopez in game 6. What can you tell us about the opening, @nigelshortchess: “Magnus Carlsen has played the Marshall Gambit – named after the great American, James Marshall Hendrix #voodoochile”.

@sinfuz is happy: “I love the smell of gambit in the morning”.

@MarkTWIC: A very sharp Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez. Quite a rare line but high level. Game could burn out quite quickly.

@susanpolgar:” I have a feeling that this game may be short because w/ correct play, many ways for forced repetition of moves”.

GM Robert Hess shares some background information with the chess twitter-sphere: @gmrlh: “I helped GM Alex Onischuk prepare a similar line against Karjakin back in 2010. Maybe Magnus Carlsen learned from us? “

@Cazhansen: “It seems like both players are fully booked from home in this line. But the question is why Karjakin allowed this.”

The boys moved fast, maybe too fast, even for @anishgiri:”Things moving at such a quick pace, we might not make it to my daily midnight wisdom.. #toostrongtoofast”.

@reachvsara: “We are not watching a game at Carlsen – Karjakin, but a memory contest of Line Moves from two sets of Silicons”.

@terribleteacher:“Dead draw in Carlsen – Karjakin game 6. Too much computer analisis has made chess dull.”

@jonathan_rowson: “I’m afraid it’s going to be a fairly dull draw again. Not so much because of opposite bishops, but the lack of pawn breaks.”

@nigelshortchess: “Don’t complain. The first K-K match was arse-numbingly tedious for months on end. This is better “.

However, the chess twitter community was not amused. A selection of tweets: @danielrensch: “How can I describe how un-enthused I am right now about that last Carlsen – Karjakin game? Karjakin needs to try harder with White. Period.” @NorwayChess: “If not exactly short and sweet, then at least short. Enjoy the rest of your Friday out there”. @amartinchess: “A bit of imagination from either player would do the match a lot of good.”

@diabloroma:” Another draw – the 6th in a row. Thunder and lightning, it’s not really exciting…”

@itsJulian23: “Why do Carlsen and Karjakin keep me up until 3am during weekdays, but when it’s the weekend they finish after like 1.5h?!”

@sjakkerle, tweeting from Norway has seen quality games: “Lack of goals – lots of quality. To complain about it is like preferring third division soccer ending 8-6 over GER-ARG 0-0.”

And one last, slightly puzzling tweet from German scholastic chess activist and journalist @stefanloeffer, who covers the match for the German quality paper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Playing 24 moves of preparation, kicking the door, loosing the grip on the position, @MagnusCarlsen wrecked his image in less than 24 hours.”

I hope that his articles are better than his tweets.

Enjoy the rest day. @TarjeiJS: “No Carlsen – Karjakin today, what in the world am I supposed to spend my time doing in this city? #NewYork”

Heading into the middle game, @FabianoCaruana tweeted: “Magnus is playing safe and solid – slight edge and a bit of suffering for black, but usually this ends in a draw.”

A slight edge for white, maybe more @GMJanGustafsson? “Is today gonna be the biggest contribution to bringing down the Berlin wall since David Hasselhoff?”

In an interview with German magazine TV Spielfilm in 2004, US actor David Hasselhoff was quoted as saying, “I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie” – a comment he later denied having made.

Back to the game….. is black still ok?

@Jonathan_Rowson:28. Ng3. Tense. No exchanges any time soon. Could be one of those games that seems deadly dull until it completely catches fire. @nigelshortchess:” It is a surprisingly awkward position for Anand, despite the limited material. The odd imprecision and he could be in trouble”.

@ecm_man: “Kasparov was a killer, whereas Carlsen is a torturer on the chessboard”.

Norwegian chess reporter @TarjeiJS is getting nervous (or bored) and shows us around the venue: “Taking a walk outside the press room”.

A crucial move was played when Tarjei was on the way, and of course the move was played during the commercial break: 28…Ne5

@Olimpiuurcan: “The directors behind this official live broadcast surely know when it’s the exact wrong time to go for a break.”

Ne5. Sounds familiar.

@athreyaa:“No No No Vishy – You were supposed to play Ne5 in the last game. Not today. 😀 :D” and@GMJanGustafsson agrees: “I can’t shake the feeling Ne5 was a better idea in game 6 than in game 7”.

@balaajim: “The irony Ne5 would have won the last game, this time it could be the losing move”.

@TerEndle: “So, now a very tricky ending – and a must hold for Anand if he’s to have any chance in the rest of this match!”

@hansenchess: “Not sure what to make of the endgame. Will sit back, relax, and try to learn.”

@Chessnotes: G7: If you need real entertainment laughs, watch engine evals wheeling around trying to get a handle on this position.

Boring? Take up draughts!

@TarjeiJS: “Carlsen trying to bore Anand to death now. This game may take another 150 moves or so”. @avinair: “Amazing how such a long match gets boring even for the players”. @KeyurK2: “This is boring…Can we have a blunder please ?”

@Jonathan_Rowson:“The game is likely to last beyond 100 moves, and there’s an outside chance it might get to 200 moves.”

@spandalai: “Its a war of attrition. Likely draw, but with Carlsen you never know. Intriguing stuff”.

@vermynhath:“Why are people moaning – “dry?” “arid”???. If you cant enjoy this, take up draughts.This is chess at it’s purest. Fantastic”.

Draw!

The game went on and on and on…..

@ollie: “Nearly six hours, and 73 moves, into this one….”

@erwinlami: “Very impressed with the tough decision of going 70…bxc4! and absolutely sure that Vishy will be holding this game now”.

@aakaashn: “I don’t see Anand losing this game in this universe.”

@thelittlehart: “Now is the time for the janitor to come in to the room rattling the keys.”